mudskinny
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Pittsburgh Trap with PGN - 2006/10/07 02:49
Queen's Gambit Declined [D63]
The Pittsburgh Trap!
I first encountered the Pittsburgh trap in the book "Capablanca' s Best Chess Endings; 60 Complete Games" by Irving Chernev, in Game 16.
Jose Raul (the Machine) Capablanca - Richard (the Fifth) Teichmann
Berlin 1913
[Event "Pittsburgh Trap"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "1913.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "J.R. Capablanca"]
[Black "R. Teichmann"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D63"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.17"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 b6 8.
cxd5 exd5 9. Bb5 Bb7 10. Ne5 a6 (10... Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ne4 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13.
f4) 11. Bc6 Bxc6 12. Nxc6 Qe8 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Nxd5 Qe4 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16.
Bh6 Qxg2 17. Qf3 $1 Qxf3 18. Rg1+ Kh8 19. Bg7+ Kg8 20. Bxf6+ 1-0
Where as Chernev wrote; "Capablanca was above playing to win by a trap. But for ordinary mortals who have no such compunctions, the Pittsburg Trap is subtle, effective and painless - the victim scarcely realizing he is in it until it is too late. It goes this way: 10.Ne5 a6 11.Bc6 Bxc6 12.Nxc6 Qe8
13.Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.Nxd5 Qe4 15.Nxf6 gxf6 16.Bh6 Qxg2 17.Qf3! (this move always comes as a shock) 17.Qxf3 18.Rg1+ Kh8 19.Bg7+ Kg8 20.Bxf6+ and White mates on the move." Thinking it was a good trap to know and play. I memorized it.
Problem was, is that after 10.Ne5 Black can simply play 10.Nxe5 and after
11.dxe5 Ne4 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.f4-/+
Black has avoided the trap and simply stands better. White will now have a difficult game.
When I went over this position with my coach IM Rashid Ziyatdinov, we could not find an improvement for White and he suggested that I abandoned this line of play. Which I did for five years, but it had always been in the back of my mind until one day I came across the trap again in Irving Chernev's book "Winning Chess Traps: 300 Ways to Win in the Opening" This time the position was different!
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D53"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.17"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5 8.
Bb5 Bb7
And what a difference! In the above diagram, Black has not yet castled, thus
White can now play 9.Ne5
without fear of capture since the knight on d7 is pinned! And now the trap can continue 9.0-0 10.Bc6 Bxc6 11.Nxc6 Qe8 12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Nxd5 Qe4 14.Nxf6 gxf6 15.Bh6 Qxg2 16.Qf3! Qxf3 17.Rg1+ Kh8 18.Bg7+ Kg8 19.Bxf6+ Qg3 20.Rxg2# mate!
What a fantastic trap. But with my curiosity peaked, I wanted to know more about this trap. Such as, where did it come from and why was it named the
Pittsburgh Trap?
Now that I had the correct moves of the trap, it was easy to search my data bases as well as the online data bases to come up with possible the original game:
[Event "?"]
[Site "Philladelphia"]
[Date "1900.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Pillsbury, Harry Nelson"]
[Black "Newman, Charles John"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D53"]
[PlyCount "39"]
[SourceDate "2002.07.17"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 b6 7. cxd5 exd5
8. Bb5 Bb7 9. Ne5 O-O 10. Bc6 Rb8 11. Bxb7 Rxb7 12. Nc6 Qe8 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7
14. Nxd5 Qe4 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. Bh6 Qxg2 17. Kd2 Qxf2+ 18. Kc1 Kh8 19. Rg1
Ne5 20. dxe5 1-0
Now Harry Nelson Pillsbury, one of America's greatest players at the turn of the nineteen hundreds, I know was from Massachusetts, and the game is listed as being played in Philly. But I haven't found any information on Charles
John Newmann or why the trap is called the Pittsburgh Trap. Perhaps the game was actually played in Pittsburgh instead of Philadelphia. Or possible
Charles John Newmann came from Pittsburgh and/or belonged to a club there and is now famous for having this trap named after him for his loss?
Now one of you dear readers might know the truth, If you do, please, please e-mail me Coach Leopold or I may never find out..
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No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.
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